THE Green candidate for St Helens North believes his party suffered at the polls due to its pro-Remain stance on Brexit.
Caroline Lucas was the only Green candidate in the country to get elected, increasing her majority in Brighton Pavilion.
The former party leader defeated her Labour rival by almost 20,000 votes, increasing her majority by nearly 5 per cent.
Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat leader who promised to revoke Article 50 and stop Brexit if it came into power, lost her seat in Dunbartonshire East to the SNP’s Amy Callaghan.
In St Helens, the Greens secured the fewest votes out of all the candidates in their respective seats, scraping less than 5,000 votes between them.
Kai Taylor, the Green candidate for St Helens South and Whiston, secured just 2,282 votes, with Lib Dem candidate Brian Spencer scraping 2,886.
In St Helens North, David van der Burg, who represents Haydock on St Helens Council, secured a meagre 1,966 votes.
Lib Dem candidate Pat Moloney – who was not present at the count – came second to last, securing 2,668 votes.
Speaking earlier in the evening, Cllr van der Burg described the national picture for the Greens as “extremely depressing”.
“It seems like there’s just been a general squeeze on people voting on Brexit, basically, which may not happen next time round, but it certainly is this time,” he said.
“I think the Green Party are pro-Remain so we’re not going to get as many votes as we could do locally.”
Asked where pro-Remain parties go from here, Cllr van der Burg said: “Well they don’t. That’s it.
“And I’m not going to start arguing about it now.”
Following the declaration for St Helens South and Whiston, Cllr Taylor, leader of the Knowsley Greens, said the country now faces five more years of austerity under the Tories.
The 22-year-old said: “There’s no denying that the national picture is bleak.
“We are heading towards five years of a Conservative majority, which means cuts, austerity, and Northern towns like this being left behind.
“As a Green Party, locally and nationally, we’ll continue to fight the Conservative government.
“We will continue to oppose austerity and we will continue to speak up for our residents in this town.”
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